hiv/aids.

As far as I'm concerned, HIV and AIDS is a big epidemic in America that should really be monitored more closely than it already is. Something has to change because the rates are constantly increasing rather than decreasing. These life long diseases have not directly affected me and don't mean much to me other than protecting myself against them. It's really scary that a lot of people that have HIV don't even know that they have it in the first place and can easily transmit it to anyone else. I have a friend that everyone in her family is HIV positive because her mom was a drug user and all her kids were born with it but she's the only one who doesn't have it. I was talking to her about it one time and she made the comment, "I wouldn't even care if I did get it." That really spoke to me in regards of how unknowledgeable the world really is about HIV and AIDS and how it can affect your life and just about everything you do. This isn't something that can just go away, you are prescribed medicine that you have to take every single day. Medications for these diseases are incredibly expensive and most people don't even have the money to afford it. If they can't afford it and don't take it, it's an automatic death sentence. So, really HIV/AIDS doesn't affect me directly, but definitely could because of how many people don't even know that they have it and because of how common this disease really is. Not that I would ever get involved with anyone that would have that kind of track record, but you never know because they might not even know. America definitely needs to keep a closer watch on this epidemic within and without our country.